U.S. Pat. No.: 5,327,066 discloses methods and apparatus for transferring information between a vehicle, and a station during a battery recharging operation (for an electrically powered vehicle) and during a refueling operation (for a vehicle having an internal combustion engine). The transferred information can be accounting-related so as to properly charge for the dispensed electrical power or fuel. The transferred information may also represent messages, advertisements, inquiries and the like.
It has been realized that a vehicle having a navigation unit may require periodic navigation-information related updating so as to accommodate changes in the local navigation situation, such as road closures, detours, etc., and possibly also to recalibrate or reset the navigation unit for accumulated errors.
A number of presently available vehicle navigation systems use a multi-disk CD player and a display. CD-ROM disks having navigation data are accessed and read by the CD player. The CD player may also be used to play music for the stereo system of the vehicle. As used herein, the term "primary navigation data" is intended to mean the navigation data stored in the CD-ROM disk or other suitable storage medium which has information similar to a road map. Because the locations of roads do not change very often, the CD-ROM can be used, and the recorded information may remain valid, for a long period of time. However, although the locations of roads do not often change, other navigation or locational information does change, such as temporary road or lane closures for repairs, fees for tolls, locations of restaurants, motels, retail facilities, etc.
A need thus exists for a low cost and simple mechanism to provide navigation data that supplements the primary navigation data that is stored within the vehicle.
Also, for some vehicular navigation systems it may be desirable to periodically update an assumed present position of the vehicle so as to compensate and eliminate erroneous navigation information. The recalibration could be accomplished through the use of a positioning system, such as one based on the constellation of Global Positioning Satellites (GPS). However, this approach would require providing the vehicle with a suitable receiver for receiving and processing the GPS information. This approach would thus increase the complexity and cost of the vehicle.
Thus, a need also exists for a low cost and simple mechanism to input very accurate position information into a navigation system of a vehicle, such as an automobile.